Hallowell High School - Venture Yearbook (Hallowell, ME)

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The VENTURE 15 Medicines, such as a prince could not have procured, though his physi- cians searched the earth from China to Peru, are now at hand to cure the pauper. The new chemical motive powers have given man a very fair substi- tute for the seven-league boots of the fairy tale, they enable him to go down under the sea in search of hid- den treasures, and they have en- dowed him with the wings that he has always longed for, but hardly hoped to have. Books are no longer sold at exorbi- tant prices, but because of the magic of ink, are within the reach of every- one. The famous works of art from the large exclusive galleries are mul- tiplied in much the same Way and scattered throughout the land. No one need lack copies of the iinest pic- tures. Even Woolworth supplies them. i g H2 We do not have to pay ten dollars to ,hear a song by Galli-Gurci, since we can hear her at home many times for the price of a single record. Caruso's voice still lives to thrill us with its wonderful harmonies. Events that few could witness other- wise are brought to all of us on the celluloid film. The reception of music thousands of miles away has become so commonplace that we cease to marvel at the radio. So, whether it be the satisfaction of our material wants, or the grati- fication of our aspirations for art, literature or science, the chemist acts as the agent of applied democracy. Nor has the chemist exhausted the possibilities of his science, he has touched the outer edge only, there are greater marvels even now in sight. In the radio-active elements. such as radium, we have come upon sources of energy that were never dreamed of before by man. The most striking peculiarity of radium is that it is always a little warmer than its surroundings, no matter how warm these may be. It decomposes and we know no way of hastening or check- ing this decomposition. An ounce of radium salt will give out enough heat in one hour to melt an ounce of ice, and, in the next hour, will raise this water to the boiling point, and so on, again and again for years, it is a fire without fuel. From the heavy white salt there is continually oozing a faint fire-mist. This gas' is known as niton. A pound of niton would give off energy at the rate of 23,000 horse power. Fine stuff to run an engine, one would think, but it does not last. When the sixth day came, the power would have fallen off by half. Besides, no one would dare act as engineer, for the radiation will rot away the flesh of a living man. It will not only break down the complex and delicate molecules of organic matter, but will also attack the atom itself, changing, it is believed, one atom into another, the dream of the ancient alchemists. ' The chemists have thus given us a glimpse of the incalculable wealth that is in some of the simplest sub- stances. True wealth is measured by the usefulness of any substance. So when a chemist develops a new product, he enriches the world that much. Our hope of continuing as the richest nation of the world re- mains in the hands of our chemists, who must, of necessity. develop our resources. If they fail, we will be surpassed by other nations whose scientists are awake to the needs of the times. As things appear at pres- ent, we Americans have little to fear. but let us not weary in the good work and let us continue to send to the chemical schools the thousands who are eager to go. Thus we may train new workers for the nation and for humanity. Francis Wingate.

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14 The VENTURE this cotton seed he could extract from it an oil that was almost the equal of olive oils for household pur- poses. He invented a way for re- moving by machinery the fuzz of cotton fiber adhering to the cotton, and of employing it in the manufac- ture of explosives and celluloid. The hull of the cotton seed, which is left after the oil has been extracted, is ground up and sold as dairy feed. Last year this utilizing of formerly worthless material added to the value of the cotton produced the sum of S150,000,000. From coal tar, a by-product of the manufacture of illuminating gas, a dozen primary products can be ex- tracted. With these, the chemist can build up hundreds of thousands of new substances, many of which can- not be duplicated by nature. This list of products includes 3000 differ- ent shades of artificial dyes, syn- thetic perfumes and flavors, which equal in every way but cost, the nat- ural productsg various kinds of modern concentrated antisepticsg medicines, and material for the manufacture of explosives. These two groups of material developed by the chemists are typical of what is being done with hundreds of other by-products. From corn, our largest agricultural product, chemists have recently found ways of obtaining over 100 different materials. The most im- portant of these are the corn oils. which. under the trade name of Mazola, come into competition with cotton seed and olive oils as a sub- stitute for butter and lard, parogal, a material used to adulterate rubber: corn syrurs that are so widely used in place of molasses: and, finally al- cohol. This last product offers great possibilities, for, at the rate at which we are now exhausting our oil fields, we shall soon be obliged to get some- thing to take the place of gasoline. One of the most promising of the suggested substitutes is alcohol pre- pared from corn, since it can be easily adapted for use in the internal combustion engine. With the many factory-prepared foods, that are in use to-day, it would be possible for the unscrupulous manufacturer to adulterate his prod- ucts with harmful ingredients, were it not for the pure food laws. These laws require every manufacturer to have an analysis of his products made by a government chemist, and this analysis placed on a label that marks his goods. For this protec- tion of our health we owe a great deal to the chemist. Chemistry is a most effective agent for democracy, since it actually ac- complishes, in regard to many ma- terial things, that equality which has always been the fundamental prin- ciple of the American Government. luxuries, formerly the monopoly of the privileged classes, become, through applied science, the common property of the masses. The royal purple of the ancients, and dyes far more beautiful, are now to be had at every bargain counter. Even Solo- mon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like the modern American maiden. Even though her purse be scanty, she need not lack jewels and bright- colored clothes, such as once cost a fortune. Fruits, exotic and out of' season, are upon our dinner table at relatively small cost. Even the china from which we eat these luxuries was not brought from China, at all, but made from a clay bank at home. In early ages the man who owned a piece of iron shaped it into a sword, and proceeded to use it against his enemy. The Feudal Age vanished at the first whiff of gunpowder, for that device of dangerous unseen pow- er levelled the natural and artificial inequalities of humanity in warfare. With a gun in his hand, the peasant was a match for the strongest knight in his heavy armor. '

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16 The VENTURE CLASS HISTORY The perfect historian is he in whose work the character and spirit of an age is exhibited in miniature. I realize how imperfect will be my history of this wonderful class of 1927, but I shall do my best to tell you of its splendid achievements. Fifty-two we were, who trudged up Central Hill on that September day in 1923 to become freshmen at Hallowell High. The hill was steep and our hearts were heavy with dread of the unknown, but we knew, even then, that Labor conquers all , so on we climbed, to meet our fate. The faculty that first year con- sisted of Principal Joseph E. Blais- dell, Miss Jessica J. Haskell, teacher of French and English, Miss Dorothy Judkins, instructor in Latin, Miss Irene Robinson, instructor in his- tory, and Miss Ethel Rice, in charge of the commercial department. When the fall term ended, Miss Robinson left us to become Mrs. Marino Gali- zia, and Miss Evelyn Waugh of Win- throp took her place. Verdant freshmen that we were, we saw the annual reception draw nearer and nearer, our hearts full of anxiety. We had become quite used to finding ourselves in awkward places in our first few weeks of high school life, but to go into society, high society, with our schoolmates of the upper classes looking down upon us, scorning us in public, that was too much! We felt like going home to bed instead of attending that reception and dance. Nevertheless, when refreshments began to appear, we felt more at ease, and, all in all, we really had rather a good time. Soon after entering, we lost ten of our classmates. Riella Currier, May- nard Clement, Harold Emery, Cath- erine Lee, Myrtle Robinson, Henri- etta Sprague, and Thelma Swift left to seek employment, Kennedy Cum- mings went with his parents to live in East Pepperell, Massachusetts, Catherine Leach moved to Castine, and Perthena Miller went to Farm- ington, to make her home with Rev. and Mrs. C. O. Perry. This year, a high school orchestra was organized, which included sever- al members of our class. Anna Em- ery has been pianist of this organi- zation from the beginning till now. The biggest event of our freshman year was the Hokey Pokey Fair, held in the City Hall. We had the ice cream booth, which attracted much attention because of its icy decora- tions. Miss Judkins was class ad- viser on this occasion. We began our sophomore year somewhat wiser, and, certainly, with less dread of what might be before us. The two-session plan was intro- duced this year and has proved a success. There were several changes in the faculty. Miss Dorothy Jud- kins resigned to accept a position in one of the Augusta schools. Miss Ethel Rice left to marry Basil Rob- bins of Ellsworth, and her place was taken by Miss Aubrey M. Plaisted, who came here from Yarmouth High. Mr. Wesley D. Gilpatric, a graduate of Bates, came as sub-master, to coach athletics and teach mathe- matics. Prin. J. E. Blaisdell took over the Latin classes. Our number had lessened still more, for nine of our class were obliged to repeat their freshman year. We regretted their loss, but we were glad to gain Errol Ridgewell, from the class of 1926, George Gree- ley, who came back to school as a sophomore, after spending more than a year in the army, John Scott, who entered from Rockland High, Stanley Horne from Kent's Hill, Iona Haney, from Winthrop High, and Clyde Leighton from Cony. The latter three we lost after a few months. At Hokey Pokey Fair this year, we had the doll table and the punch booth. The booths were artistically